2 Best Sights in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine

Descendants of the early Hancock settler for whom Crabtree Neck was named are among those behind Crabtree Neck Land Trust, which impressively has six preserves in and around this reach of land. They include the 3-mile Old Pond Railway Trail, with two trailheads near U.S. 1 (one is in the village just off the highway on Point Road across from Hancock town hall). It follows a railbed on which trains in an earlier era transported rusticators heading to (and later from) Bar Harbor, completing the last leg of the journey by ferry. The trust has also made it easier for folks to swim, walk, or simply enjoy views of Frenchman Bay at Carters Beach down on the neck. To get there, drive about 4½ miles down Point Road and turn left onto Haskins Road, which soon ends at Carters Beach Road. Walk the unpaved shore-hugging road, aka Carters Beach Corridor, about a half mile north to the beach. Here, one of the trust-owned tracts along the road connects with Frenchman Bay Conservancy’s Salt Pond Preserve ( www.frenchmanbay.org). Yes, there's a salt pond near the beach. Salt Pond Trail is about a mile out and back.

The Land & Garden preserve expanded greatly in 2015 when David Rockefeller, son of Acadia National Park founder John D. Rockefeller Jr., donated about 1,000 acres of largely forested land in Seal Harbor to the conversation group. The property includes 17 acres of meadows; 12 acres of marsh; a bog and streams; carriage roads and trails, some connecting with Acadia's trails; stone staircases on the Richard Trail, steep in sections, similar to those in Acadia; and a pond you can hike around and swim in (at designated areas). Upon David Rockefeller’s death in 2017, the preserve was gifted the old estate’s formal garden, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden.

Two of several preserve parking areas on Route 3 are for Little Long Pond Natural Lands. The one beside the pond across from Bracy Cove is small, so consider using the parking area west of here, where a 0.4-mile trail leads to the cove and pond.